Time for a Mobile Website or App?
Consider this. Mobile usage is growing at a rapid rate, and users of handhelds are going to their devices to find information fast via the Internet. Consumers are constantly on the go and over 50% of North Americans are visiting websites on their handheld. But deciding on a Mobile Website or and App can be quite confusing. App’s can be customized to do almost anything that a mobile phone offers. They can work off GPS, connect to iTunes, as well as deliver timely information on sales, promotions, product innovations etc..
On the other hand, Mobile Websites can perform many functions similar to your current website. If you are looking to inform your customer of products, customer service, or awareness this can be done through a mobile website. Basically by taking your current brand and online presence, you can transfer it to a small screen with easy navigation that will allow your users to have a positive experience online with no frustration of opening your current website that is designed for larger screens.
What are the differences between a Mobile APP and Mobile Website?
Cost and Time to Develop
Mobile websites take much less time to develop than an App, therefore they cost less to create and maintain. Mobile websites are also friendly across all phone’s Operating Systems (OS) such as Safari, Blackberry OS, and Android. Essentially one mobile website can be created for all devices.
Apps have to be developed for each OS, and have different code and design strategies for each device. Therefore a mobile website needs to be created once, an APP needs to be developed three times from scratch with separate programming languages. In terms of development time, an iPhone App has to be approved by Apple before it can even be released on the Phones App Store. This process can take anywhere from 3 - 6 weeks depending on the APP and submission.
Usability
When your customer first hears about your App there is a bit of a process to obtain and use them. For example on and iPhone, the user first has to enter the APP Store, than search for the APP. Secondly they have to download and install the App on their phone after inputting their iTunes Password. If the user of the iPhone has not updated their OS software than they may have to plug their phone into a computer and download the appropriate software to run the APP. Similarly, each time an iPhone requires a new OS update, the APP will have to be updated to work properly with that OS.
Mobile websites require no installation and can automatically be accessed through Google, or by typing in the URL of the website. The process to do this is much quicker than downloading and installing an App. However, this process has to be completed each time the user want’s to access your mobile website. In a recent study, It was shown that on average a mobile website takes roughly 20 seconds to find and load, when bookmarked it can take roughly 10 seconds to open and load. This obviously depends on connection speed at the time. And App however can take up to 3 minutes on average to find and install the first time, but after installation holds a loading time of 5 - 7 seconds on average with a ‘one click’ strategy.
Ongoing Maintenance
App’s require a lot of maintenance, and ongoing support to function properly. This alone can cost countless dollars just to keep and APP functioning across all mobile devices.
Mobile websites can be updated easily, similar to a normal website. In fact if your website was coded well, you can update both the mobile website and your current website at the same time through use of Dynamic Content which will save you time and money.
Deciding which is better
What is the deciding factor between and App and a Mobile website?
Cost - Apps generally cost a lot more money to produce than mobile websites as they have to be programmed for each operating system from scratch and require a harder level of coding. An App can easily cost $25,000. A mobile website can cost as little as $5,000.
Functionality - Many people think an App is the answer but a lot of the time a mobile website can deliver your message as effectively as an App. Now weigh this to cost.
Long Term Goals - If the goal of your mobile presence is for customer service and awareness, and App is not needed. If your goal is to use a mobile presence to create secondary income, than an App is most likely needed as you will need it to connect to platforms like the App Store to generate income.
ROI - Is the cost of an APP going to give you the return on investment. Or would a mobile website help you reach positive ROI sooner? This something that needs to be taken into consideration.
Consider the above 4 Variables and this will give you a starting point on where to go next. For more information on Mobile websites and Apps, feel free to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
